A group of House Republicans has sent a letter to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona and other top education officials seeking answers over claims that some schools have used COVID funds for Critical Race Theory instruction.
The letter from GOP members of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform Ranking Member James Comer (R-KY), Committee on Education and Labor Ranking Member Virginia Foxx (R-NC), along with members of both groups, demands responses regarding the reports on federal funding used in &#8220;racially biased&#8221; programs.
“Committees on Oversight and Reform and Education and Labor Republicans are investigating the use of COVID-19 relief dollars appropriated for virus mitigation and the safe reopening of schools. Based on recent reports, the Department of Education is allowing Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act and related COVID relief funds to pay for racially biased and other progressive leftist programs,” the Republican lawmakers <a href="https://republicans-oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/SecCardonaUse-of-ESSER.CRT_.FINAL61.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a>.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
🚨 Democrat-run states are using COVID funds to pay for CRT instead of addressing students’ learning loss from school closures. <a href="https://twitter.com/RepJamesComer?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RepJamesComer</a> &amp; <a href="https://twitter.com/virginiafoxx?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@virginiafoxx</a> are leading a probe into <a href="https://twitter.com/usedgov?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@usedgov</a> to protect taxpayer dollars from funding radical curriculum.<a href="https://t.co/fIfaYOfUYL">https://t.co/fIfaYOfUYL</a>
&mdash; Oversight Committee Republicans (@GOPoversight) <a href="https://twitter.com/GOPoversight/status/1570150670816391171?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 14, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
“Specifically, Congress created the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) fund to enable schools to safely reopen and address learning loss caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Those taxpayer dollars, however, are being used to indoctrinate children in core tenets of leftist ideology,&#8221; the letter added.
Congress included $13.2 billion in the CARES Act and another $54.3 billion in the ESSER Fund under the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act during the pandemic. Congressional Democrats also recently pushed for an additional $120 billion in ESSER funding, <a href="https://republicans-oversight.house.gov/release/top-house-republicans-investigate-covid-relief-dollars-funding-critical-race-theory-programs/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to</a> the lawmakers.
Instead of using ESSER funds to address these dramatic learning losses,  the Republicans say that some states are spending taxpayer dollars to push leftist causes.
&#8220;New York used part of the $9 billion it received to provide staff development on ‘culturally responsive sustaining instruction’ and ‘privilege’ and to recognize ‘equity warriors,’&#8221; the letter stated. &#8220;At least ten other state plans included proposals to use the ESSER funds to implement racially biased curriculum and programs based on Critical Race Theory.”
The letter cited a <a href="https://www.nber.org/papers/w29497" target="_blank" rel="noopener">study</a> from the National Bureau of Economic Research that addressed learning declines during the pandemic to highlight the need to use COVID-related funding toward essential educational programs.
&#8220;Passing rates in math declined by 14.2 percentage points on average; we estimate this decline was 10.1 percentage points smaller for districts fully in-person,&#8221; the report stated.
The learning decline was also reportedly more significant in school districts with larger numbers of students eligible for free and reduced-price lunches.
&#8220;Changes in English language arts scores were smaller, but were significantly larger in districts with larger populations of students who are Black, Hispanic or eligible for free and reduced price lunch,&#8221; the report added.
The Republicans requested &#8220;all documents and communications&#8221; related to the COVID-related funding in California, New York, Illinois, Michigan, and New Jersey. The letter also seeks information on &#8220;the training or teaching on subjects related to Critical Race Theory, diversity, equity, and inclusion, and/or other racially biased training and/or programs&#8221; supported by the ESSER funds.

President-Elect Joe Biden And Vice President-elect Kamala Harris Announce Miguel Cardona As Hhe Nominee For Education Secretary

GOP Leaders Demand Answers To Claims Some Schools Used COVID Funds To Push Critical Race Theory

COVID-19

Critical Race Theory

Department of Education

Twilio CEO Jeff Lawson announced on Wednesday that the <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/technology">technology</a> firm would carry out a round of <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/unemployment">layoffs</a> using an “anti-racist” and “anti-oppression” framework.
The publicly-traded <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/business">company</a>, which builds programmable communications tools, grew “at an astonishing rate” over the past several years, according to a <a href="https://www.twilio.com/blog/a-message-from-twilio-ceo-jeff-lawson">letter</a> from Lawson — a reality that necessitates a series of layoffs. As <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/inflation">inflationary</a> pressures and other economic bottlenecks propel the United States into a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/white-house-does-preemptive-damage-control-as-economy-heads-toward-recession">technical recession</a>, other technology companies have likewise <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/recession-fears-lead-big-tech-companies-to-pause-hiring-cut-jobs">slowed hiring</a> or decreased payrolls.
Lawson, however, informed his staff that Twilio is devoted to operating as an “anti-racist” company and that the layoffs were executed through an “Anti-Racist/Anti-Oppression lens,&#8221; because “layoffs like this can have a more pronounced impact on marginalized communities.”
“This was tremendously difficult. For those impacted today, we applied a rigorous selection process to examine which roles were most tightly aligned to our four priorities,” Lawson wrote.
The Daily Wire asked Twilio how many employees were dismissed under deliberations that weighed racial identity. A spokesperson for the company said that Lawson&#8217;s memo has all of the information that will be released publicly.
Other entities in the United States have adopted similar policies in layoff decisions. Last month, the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/minneapolis-public-schools-defend-anti-white-firing-practices-that-put-critical-race-theory-into-practice">agreed to a contract</a> stipulating that non-white staff are considered a “population underrepresented among licensed teachers,” which allows for them to be fired after white colleagues — a decision the union later defended as a remedy for “the continuing effects of past discrimination.”
An <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/diversity-training-at-vanguard-tells-white-men-to-accept-uncomfortable-criticism-floats-holding-them-accountable">exclusive report</a> from The Daily Wire revealed a two-hour diversity training at asset management company Vanguard that pushed white male managers to accept “uncomfortable” criticism about their implicit biases. Leaked footage showed a diversity trainer suggesting that Vanguard should provide expectations for how managers “will and should be held accountable” for diversity goals — with one possible mechanism for such accountability occurring through the “performance management process … just like we do for business results.”
Prioritizing diversity among staff — even at the expense of optimizing merit — is an objective frequently pursued at companies that have subscribed to the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) movement, by which executives tend to mingle left-wing politics with operations within their mandates.
Earlier this year, however, an <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/poll-by-two-to-one-margin-investors-reject-woke-companies-pushing-political-causes">exclusive poll</a> from The Daily Wire showed that American investors would prefer that companies commit solely to the pursuit of profits. Although 29% of respondents agreed it is a “good thing” for companies to leverage their financial power for political or social means supported by executives, 58% said it is a “bad thing.” The poll also found that most investors recognize ESG as promoting “more liberal positions” than conservative ones. While 50% believe the former and 16% believe the latter, only 21% believe that ESG investing is politically neutral.
In the public sector, President Joe Biden is <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-admin-unleashes-total-transformation-of-government-with-equity-action-plans">pursuing</a> a “total transformation of government” centered upon diversity, equity, and inclusion.
“I believe this nation and this government need to change their whole approach to the issue of racial equity,” the commander-in-chief said during a <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2021/01/26/remarks-by-president-biden-at-signing-of-an-executive-order-on-racial-equity/">speech</a> days after his inauguration. “We need to open the promise of America to every American. And that means we need to make the issue of racial equity not just an issue for any one department of government; it has to be the business of the whole of government. … Every agency will be involved in this work because advancing equity has to be everyone’s job.”

A cutting board with a knife between black and white letters.

Company Reveals It Will Lay Off Workers Through An ‘Anti-Racist’ Lens

Tech Company Helps 'Marginalized Communities' By Laying Off Workers Through An 'Anti-Racist' Lens

Anti-Racism

Business

Technology

The <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/heritage-foundation" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Heritage Foundation</a> will release a new ranking of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/education" target="_blank" rel="noopener">educational</a> freedom among the states on Friday, according to a <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-new-ranking-for-education-freedom-11662659868">report</a> from The Wall Street Journal.
The unveiling of the conservative think tank’s latest project occurs as the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/nations-report-card-indicates-worst-decline-in-math-and-reading-scores-in-decades">shows</a> average scores for nine-year-olds plummeting five points in reading and seven points in mathematics. Amid the rapid decline in education outcomes — which immediately follows <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/school-lockdowns" target="_blank" rel="noopener">school lockdowns</a> that disrupted learning in the spring of 2020 — parents are increasingly concerned over the encroachment of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/transgender" target="_blank" rel="noopener">radical gender theory</a> and other <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/critical-race-theory" target="_blank" rel="noopener">left-wing ideologies</a> into classrooms.
Beyond performance on the National Assessment of Educational Progress and access to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/school-choice" target="_blank" rel="noopener">school choice</a>, Heritage’s “Education Freedom Report Card” considers spending per pupil, teacher-to-non-teacher staff ratios, and unfunded teacher pension liabilities as a proportion of state gross domestic product. The top-ranked state in the group’s inaugural report is <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/florida" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Florida</a>.
“The Sunshine State embraces education freedom across the board,” the analysis explained. “Florida does exceptionally well in allowing parents to choose among private, charter, and district schools, is home to a strong ESA program, and ranks third overall for education choice. Florida ranks first among states for academic transparency. Among other protections, state lawmakers set a high standard for academic transparency, and reject critical race theory’s pernicious ideas.”
New Jersey, New York, and Washington, D.C., ranked at the bottom of the list as policymakers neglect to “provide transparency, accountability, and choice to families.” In second place, however, was Arizona, which recently <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/arizona-to-become-the-nations-gold-standard-for-school-choice-passing-universal-bill-for-one-million-students">greenlit</a> $6,500 in tuition vouchers per child that parents can apply to private schools, homeschools, or learning pods.
Many parents <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/is-the-right-to-homeschooling-under-attack">turned to homeschooling</a> and private schools as their local districts continued with virtual instruction. Homeschooling rates across the country grew from 5.4% to 11% between March 2020 and September 2020 alone, one <a href="https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2021/03/homeschooling-on-the-rise-during-covid-19-pandemic.html">report</a> from the Census Bureau found last year.
While responding to a question about dismal readings from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/white-house-faces-backlash-over-response-to-question-about-lockdowns-school-closures-this-is-absurd">provoked criticism</a> by suggesting that Republicans prevented schools from reopening sooner amid the rollback of government lockdowns.
“That was the work of this president. And that was the work of Democrats, in spite of Republicans not voting for the American Rescue Plan,” she explained, referring to $130 billion in funding for schools greenlit by the $1.9 trillion legislation. “Every Republican in Congress voted against that money. That is the reality. We had to do this on our own.”
However, several Democratic lawmakers and politicians — including Education Secretary Miguel Cardona and White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield — had <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/white-house-claims-schools-reopened-in-spite-of-republicans-here-are-several-videos-of-democrats-defending-closed-schools">pushed for a delay</a> to normal instruction. American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten said during a July 2021 interview with MSNBC that increasing vaccination rates was necessary to “keep kids safe” and “keep our members safe” amid attempts “to open up schools.”
More recently, teachers unions have <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/unions-complain-of-dire-teacher-shortages-ahead-of-new-school-year-push-for-more-funding">called for more funding</a> as <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/americans-continue-to-opt-out-of-the-workforce">labor shortages</a> impact the education sector. However, a <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d19/tables/dt19_236.55.asp?current=yes">report</a> from the National Center for Education Statistics indicated that the inflation-adjusted yearly expenditure per American pupil rose from $4,060 to $15,424 between 1960 and 2017. Another <a href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED543118.pdf">study</a> from the Department of Education revealed that schools increased the number of non-teaching staff by 702% between 1950 to 2009 despite hiring 252% more teachers over the same period.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks at a press conference to

Conservative Think Tank Reveals Which State Has The Most Free Education System In The Country

Heritage Foundation Introduces New 'Education Freedom Index,' Reveals Which State Ranks Highest

Education

Florida

Heritage Foundation

Ron DeSantis

School Choice

School Lockdowns

Transgender

Labor Day weekend has come and gone, marking the unofficial end of the summer, but we&#8217;d be remiss if we didn&#8217;t focus on this past season&#8217;s hottest trend: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/racism" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Anti-white racism</a> under the guise of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/critical-race-theory" target="_blank" rel="noopener">diversity, equity, and inclusion</a>.
As flagged by conservative strategist Greg Price, “Open racial discrimination against whites and Asians is just a thing now I guess.” He attached screenshots to several recent stories, highlighting programs or policies that explicitly push minority individuals over white people.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Open racial discrimination against whites and Asians is just a thing now I guess. <a href="https://t.co/2FReYhhcue">pic.twitter.com/2FReYhhcue</a>
&mdash; Greg Price (@greg_price11) <a href="https://twitter.com/greg_price11/status/1565386567954440193?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 1, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Asians are obviously not white, but because of their general cultural success in America, they have been <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/critical-race-theory-has-no-idea-what-do-asian-americans-opinion-1608984" target="_blank" rel="noopener">deemed</a> “white-adjacent” by proponents of Critical Race Theory.
Many of the plans highlighted by Price are potentially illegal, but the programs deserve scrutiny so that Americans can see what equity in action really looks like.
For example, Bank of America recently <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/boa-ripped-over-no-down-payment-no-closing-costs-mortgage-plan-for-minorities" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> a new mortgage lending program geared specifically to black and Hispanic homebuyers.
The loans require no down payments, no closing costs, and no credit scores. To qualify, you must make below a certain amount of money each year and purchase a home in a black or Hispanic neighborhood in select American cities. White homebuyers in those neighborhoods who meet the criteria are eligible for the program, but the company admits those aren&#8217;t the program&#8217;s intended beneficiaries.
“Our Community Affordable Loan Solution will help make the dream of sustained homeownership attainable for more Black and Hispanic families, and it is part of our broader commitment to the communities that we serve,” A.J. Barkley, head of neighborhood and community lending for Bank of America, said.
So, in other words, the gigantic bank openly brags that its goal with the program is to racially discriminate.
It is doubtful that Bank of America will begin a program like this in the predominantly white and poverty-ridden town of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/nov/12/beattyville-kentucky-and-americas-poorest-towns" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Beattyville, Kentucky</a> — despite its widespread economic ruin due to policies that shipped jobs overseas and allowed drugs to proliferate through the country.
Yet Bank of America might be okay — legally speaking — since it doesn&#8217;t exclude white people from accessing its newest version of subprime mortgages.
The same likely cannot be said for Amazon or pharmaceutical giant Pfizer.
The Washington Free Beacon recently reported that Amazon and Pfizer announced programs specifically for minority candidates — white people need not apply, it seems.
Amazon is being <a href="https://freebeacon.com/latest-news/amazon-faces-suit-over-10k-offer-made-exclusively-to-black-latinx-and-native-american-entrepreneurs/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sued</a> for a program that allegedly discriminates based on race. Under the company&#8217;s Amazon Delivery Service Partner&#8217;s diversity grant, certain races are eligible to receive thousands of dollars to become delivery partners. The plaintiff in that suit says it is “patently unlawful racial discrimination.”
“This means that businesses owned by blacks, Latinos, or Native Americans receive a $10,000 stipend from Amazon to become delivery service partners, while whites and Asian Americans who wish to become delivery service partners receive no such stipend and must foot the entire bill for their startup costs,” the lawsuit claimed, according to The Free Beacon.
Why? Well, a look at Critical Race Theory principles — which animate such ideas — shows that present discrimination is needed to rectify past discrimination. Thus, in a leftist worldview anyway, it&#8217;s okay to exclude certain races that have been deemed non-victims.
Pfizer is even more explicit in its racial requirements.
The company — which recently <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/07/28/pfizer-pfe-earnings-q2-2022.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">posted</a> record profits thanks to its COVID vaccine — recently <a href="https://www.pfizer.com/about/careers/breakthrough-fellowship-program" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> a “first-of-its-kind” nine-year fellowship that offers a 10-week summer internship for rising undergraduate college seniors, two years of full-time employment after undergraduate graduation, a fully paid scholarship for a master&#8217;s degree, more summer internships, and post-program employment at Pfizer.
It is probably the “first-of-its-kind” because it is only for Americans of “Black/African American, Latino/Hispanic and Native American descent” — which experts say is against the law.
“This Pfizer program is so flagrantly illegal I seriously wonder how it passed internal review by its general counsel,” Adam Mortara, a top civil rights attorney, <a href="https://freebeacon.com/latest-news/no-whites-allowed-pfizer-fellowship-flagrantly-violates-the-law-lawyers-say/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> The Free Beacon.
In Minnesota, teachers unions are also <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/minneapolis-public-schools-defend-anti-white-firing-practices-that-put-critical-race-theory-into-practice" target="_blank" rel="noopener">advancing</a> racial discrimination.
Under a collective bargaining agreement between the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers union and the Minneapolis Public School District, non-white teachers are considered a “population underrepresented among licensed teachers.” That racial category means that for some reason they should be prevented from being laid off first — regardless of their educational qualifications.
In a statement given to The Washington Times, the Minneapolis Public School District actually defended its racist policies.
“To remedy the continuing effects of past discrimination, Minneapolis Public Schools and the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers (MFT) mutually agreed to contract language that aims to support the recruitment and retention of teachers from underrepresented groups as compared to the labor market and to the community served by the school district,” the district <a href="https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2022/aug/16/minneapolis-school-district-defends-deal-lay-white/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> the D.C.-based paper.
Americans should get used to more of these sorts of programs.
The Biden administration has required all federal agencies to craft their own equity action plans. As The Daily Wire has previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-admin-unleashes-total-transformation-of-government-with-equity-action-plans" target="_blank" rel="noopener">discussed</a>, those plans also enact anti-white racism across the country and represent a “total transformation of government.”
In all of these plans mentioned, there is little emphasis on the merit of candidates, teachers, or loan holders. The dominating factor for qualification is the race and ethnicity of individuals involved — not their character or achievements.
The evidence indicates that big banks, big unions, big business, and big government are all ideologically aligned in this effort — which is bad news for all Americans, regardless of race.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Stock photo equity

Anti-White Racism Is All The Rage Amongst Big Business, Banks, Unions, And Government

Banks

Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

Federal Government

Racism

Unions

White Privilege

A new Advanced Placement (AP) course inspired by <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/george-floyd">George Floyd</a> will soon be available at dozens of U.S. high <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/education">schools</a>.
The College Board, which <a href="https://apstudents.collegeboard.org">administers</a> the SAT and AP courses, announced the new African American Studies AP course last week.
The new course will be available to students at 60 high schools across the country as part of a pilot program that will not count for college credits this year. AP courses typically allow high school students to earn early college credit.
About 200 high schools will offer the course in the 2023-24 school year, and it will become even more widely available the following year.
The course will cover about 400 years of history as well as some literature, politics, and geography.
Trevor Packer, head of the College Board&#8217;s AP program, said George Floyd&#8217;s death and the backlash to it had a direct impact on the organization introducing the new AP course.
Floyd died in police custody in May 2020 after a Minneapolis law enforcement officer knelt on his neck during an arrest for about nine minutes, including after he passed out. His death sparked national outrage that led to violent riots in metropolitan areas around the country and popularized the &#8220;Black Lives Matter&#8221; movement. The Minneapolis cop, Derek Chauvin, was convicted of murder in April last year and was sentenced to more than 22 years in prison.
&#8220;The events surrounding George Floyd and the increased awareness and attention paid towards issues of inequity and unfairness and brutality directed towards African Americans caused me to wonder, ‘Would colleges be more receptive to an AP course in this discipline than they were 10 years ago?'&#8221; Packer <a href="https://time.com/6207652/ap-african-american-history-class/">told</a> Time Magazine.
Packer also said the class &#8220;will introduce a new generation of students to the amazingly rich cultural, artistic, and political contributions of African Americans.&#8221;
&#8220;We hope it will broaden the invitation to Advanced Placement and inspire students with a fuller appreciation of the American story,&#8221; he <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/advanced-placement-african-american-studies-class-rollout-us-high-schools-college-board/">told</a> CBS.
The College Board has not added any new AP courses since 2014.
The course&#8217;s content is not yet publicly available. The College Board said it plans to publish the whole curriculum on the AP Program website in spring 2024.
The new course comes as at least 20 states have moved to crack down on Critical Race Theory content in school curricula, <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/us/critical-race-theory-states-cracking-down">including</a> Florida, Michigan, and New Hampshire.
CRT is an ideology that claims racism is systemic and permeates every aspect of American culture, and is also the explanation for all “inequities” between races. It has become a controversial issue among parents in school districts across the country as some do not want CRT taught in schools, while others support including it in curricula.
Last year, a large group of Republican senators wrote a letter to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona criticizing the Biden administration&#8217;s proposal that public education respond to &#8220;the urgency of improving racial equity throughout our society, including in our education system.&#8221;
The administration&#8217;s proposal would &#8220;double down on divisive, radical, and historically-dubious buzzwords and propaganda,&#8221; the senators <a href="https://www.republicanleader.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/FINAL%20DOE%20Civics%20Education%20Signed%204.29.21.pdf">wrote</a>.
&#8220;Americans never decided our children should be taught that our country is inherently evil,&#8221; the letter continued.

KENYA-US-POLITICS-RACISM

College Board Debuts George Floyd-Inspired African American Studies AP Class

George Floyd

High School

Public Schools

Race

An <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/oklahoma" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Oklahoma</a> teacher has resigned Wednesday after she was disciplined over a sign in her classroom directing students to books restricted by the state&#8217;s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/critical-race-theory" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Critical Race Theory</a> (CRT) ban.
Summer Boismier, who taught 10th grade English at Norman High School just south of Oklahoma City, was told she must cover books that might be deemed inappropriate under the state ban. Other district teachers were told the same.
Boismier, 34, cooperated and covered the books with butcher paper, but she added a label, writing in marker on the covering “Books the State Doesn’t Want You to Read.”
She added a QR code linking to the Brooklyn Public Library’s “Books Unbanned” program, where students can access the books.
“Definitely don’t scan this!” she wrote underneath the QR code.
A Norman Public Schools spokesperson <a href="https://thehill.com/changing-america/respect/equality/3616129-oklahoma-teacher-quits-after-sharing-a-qr-code-for-banned-books-with-students/">said</a> a concerned parent reached out to the school district to flag Boismier and a “potential issue regarding Oklahoma HB 1775.”
“Like many educators, the teacher has concerns regarding censorship and book removal by the Oklahoma state legislature. However, as educators it is our goal to teach students to think critically, not to tell them what to think,” the district spokesperson said.
The “Books Unbanned” project attempts to connect teens with books they may not be able to access thanks to &#8220;political challenges.&#8221;
&#8220;Across the country, teens are facing book bans, censorship and political challenges in their local school and public libraries,&#8221; the Brooklyn library <a href="https://www.bklynlibrary.org/books-unbanned">says</a> on its website.
Boismier has since doubled down on her actions, saying she &#8220;would do it again.&#8221;
&#8220;I am a walking HB 1775 violation,&#8221; Boismier <a href="https://okcfox.com/news/local/summer-boismier-norman-public-schools-critical-race-theory-brooklyn-public-library-qr-code-house-bill-1775-oklahoma-teacher-resigned-education-books">said</a>. &#8220;And one of the sticking points between myself and my previous district was I would do it again in a heartbeat. No regrets. Would do it again. Will do it again.&#8221;
&#8220;It&#8217;s vitally important that our students feel empowered, see themselves, reflected and validated. For too long, public education did not include those stories,&#8221; she said.
Asked by local outlet KOKH-TV whether she thought her banned books sign would prompt a CRT complaint, Boismier <a href="https://okcfox.com/news/local/summer-boismier-norman-public-schools-critical-race-theory-brooklyn-public-library-qr-code-house-bill-1775-oklahoma-teacher-resigned-education-books">said</a> it was only &#8220;a matter of when.&#8221;
&#8220;I think every educator since the passage of HB 1775 has understood that it&#8217;s a matter of &#8216;if,’ not a matter of &#8216;when.’” Boismier said. &#8220;If we&#8217;re doing our jobs, it&#8217;s a matter of when.&#8221;
&#8220;I don&#8217;t have control over people&#8217;s feelings, so I&#8217;m not sure why I&#8217;m being penalized for that,&#8221; she said.
In March, the Oklahoma State Department of Education officially <a href="https://kfor.com/news/oklahoma-legislature/state-department-of-education-officially-adopts-rules-for-crt-law-in-oklahoma-schools/">adopted</a> the rule to keep CRT out of Oklahoma schools.
“CRT has no place in K-12 education,” State Superintendent Joy Hofmeister said at the time.
Oklahoma is not the only state that has passed a law in an attempt to keep politically charged content out of K-12 schools.
Also in March, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/leak-state-farm-said-its-giving-transgender-books-for-five-year-olds-to-florida-schools-appears-to-backtrack">signed</a> the Parental Rights in Education Bill, which prohibits classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity for kindergarten through third grade, or in a way that is not age appropriate or developmentally appropriate. Critics dubbed the bill “Don’t Say Gay” despite the word “gay” not appearing anywhere in the bill text.

Assorted Location Shoots

Oklahoma Teacher Quits After Being Disciplined For Banned Books Sign

Gender Identity

Oklahoma

Schools

A new report out of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/minnesota" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Minnesota</a> shows yet again that when <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/critical-race-theory" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Critical Race Theory</a> is put into practice, it is nothing more than overt anti-white <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/racism" target="_blank" rel="noopener">racism</a>.
Supposedly to correct past wrongs, the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers union has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/teachers-union-requires-white-teachers-be-fired-before-educators-of-color-to-remedy-past-discrimination">conjured up a collective bargaining agreemen</a>t that stipulates that white teachers be fired before their non-white colleagues. The Minneapolis Public School District not only agreed to that firing practice but is now defending it.
Under the contract, non-white teachers are considered a “population underrepresented among licensed teachers.&#8221; That racial category means that for some reason they should be prevented from being laid off first — regardless of their educational qualifications.
The recent contract agreement between the union and Minneapolis public schools states, “Starting with the Spring 2023 Budget Tie-Out Cycle, if excessing a teacher who is a member of a population underrepresented among licensed teachers in the site, the District shall excess the next least senior teacher, who is not a member of an underrepresented population.”
“Excessing” refers to the reduction of staff.
The justification for such blatant racial discrimination is purportedly to rectify “past discrimination.”
In a statement given to the Washington Times, the Minneapolis school district actually defended its racist policies.
“To remedy the continuing effects of past discrimination, Minneapolis Public Schools and the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers (MFT) mutually agreed to contract language that aims to support the recruitment and retention of teachers from underrepresented groups as compared to the labor market and to the community served by the school district,” the district <a href="https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2022/aug/16/minneapolis-school-district-defends-deal-lay-white/">told</a> the D.C.-based paper.
If that sounds familiar, it is because it is nearly identical to the advice from one of America’s most “preeminent” Critical Race Theory hucksters, Dr. Ibram X. Kendi.
“The only remedy to racist discrimination is antiracist discrimination,” Kendi <a href="https://highlights.sawyerh.com/highlights/Wc3cIP436n60JRoYYTVe" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a> in his seminal book, “How To Be An Anti-Racist.”
&#8220;The only remedy to past discrimination is present discrimination,&#8221; he added. &#8220;The only remedy to present discrimination is future discrimination.”
Those principles once laid out and foisted upon college kids across America are now being played out in the real world.
What’s worse is that the educators behind the anti-white discrimination want it to be a nationwide model of success.
“It can be a national model, and schools in other states are looking to emulate what we did,” Edward Barlow, a band teacher at Anwatin Middle School and a member of the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers executive board, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/teachers-union-requires-white-teachers-be-fired-before-educators-of-color-to-remedy-past-discrimination">told</a> the Star Tribune.
“Even though it doesn’t do everything that we wanted it to do, it’s still a huge move forward for the retention of teachers of color,&#8221; he claimed.
Absent of any qualification is the idea of merit; what reigns supreme in this agreement is the skin color of the teacher. In other words, it is a monumental step backward in the name of &#8220;progress.&#8221;
In the name of social justice, the students — as well as white educators whose only sin is being white — are put last.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
RELATED: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/in-the-name-of-diversity-equity-and-inclusion-north-dakota-school-board-will-no-longer-recite-nations-pledge" target="_blank" rel="noopener">In The Name Of Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion, North Dakota School Board Will No Longer Recite Nation’s Pledge</a>

Minneapolis Public Schools Defend Anti-White Firing Practices That Put Critical Race Theory Into Practice

Ibram X. Kendi

Minnesota

The following is an excerpt from the newly released paperback edition of <a href="https://www.regnery.com/9781684513802/hollowed-out/">Hollowed Out</a>: A Warning About America&#8217;s Next Generation (<a href="https://www.regnery.com/">Regnery Publishing</a>, August 2022).
Occasionally, former students will contact me to let me know that upon further study and reflection they believe I failed to tell them the truth about their country and its history—its sprawling and unending flaws stemming from systemic injustice and brutality. My passion for the Enlightenment, my celebration of classical liberal values, my belief in the uniqueness of America’s democratic and egalitarian culture, my zeal for the men and women who founded this country in I776 and I787 and for the extraordinary feats of Lincoln and the Civil War Amendments, and my adoration for Americans like Frederick Douglass, Susan B. Anthony, and Martin Luther King Jr., who made us face up to our failings, was all a fraudulent sideshow. They don’t accuse me of lying, but of the sin of omission.
What, exactly, do these former students take exception to?
My optimism. My unvarnished belief that the creation of the United States of America was one of the most extraordinary pivots in human history because it sought to extricate humanity from the shackles of perpetual subjugation. America meant no feudalism, no religious wars, no state-centered society. The creation of the United States was a philosophical revolution made political reality on a continental scale. American optimism is intertwined with the notion that we, the people, are created equal, with a God-given right to liberty. Equality is our shared origin, but it is not our destination, because we are free to pursue happiness as we see fit. 
The American dream allows us to act according to our consciences and convictions, our hopes and desires, our ambitions and our efforts. The American dream is unique for everyone—and in America we can pursue happiness in different ways. Indeed, our free-market economy, our respect for the individual, and our federal system of government rest on our guarantee of social and political pluralism. As Americans, we are free to live where and how we want, to believe what we will, to associate with communities and groups of our own choosing, and to spend our time as we wish—and where these freedoms have been violated, it has been a violation of the American promise that can always be redeemed, because it is written into our political DNA through the Declaration of Independence and into our laws through the Constitution. America’s success has been a success of freedom, mass prosperity, science, and innovation.
Most of all, America’s success marks the success of human aspiration. The ultimate irony is that the young people who condemn America for its flaws do not recognize that their standards of justice, equality, freedom, opportunity, and prosperity are entirely the product of our history. They carp at the extraordinary achievements of the American past—and do not recognize how that makes them less capable of building an even more extraordinary future. Their cheap cynicism leads them to believe that all this talk of freedom, individual agency, and opportunity is a lie, a fraud, a malevolent myth—which is a perfect excuse to do nothing, to drop out, to accept no responsibility for one’s life.
Very little has wounded me more in my life than these retrospective denunciations of America from my former students. 
I don’t delete these rare emails or texts in a fury or with a diffident shrug. I read them over and over again, and the sting never goes away; I agonize over them, because I believe with every ounce of my being that the winning recipe for a meaningful life is to be found in the philosophy of the founders, the country they gave us, and the opportunities that exist here for those with the gumption, the dedication, and, yes, the optimism to pursue them. In the middle of the 2020 election season, a former student of mine from early in my career tweeted, “I’m an immigrant who fell in love with American politics because of the passion and patriotism of my high school teacher.” Her comment was kind and generous. I confess, though, that it also saddened me, because I never hear comments like this anymore. I never hear young people professing love for their country. I used to. But not lately.
This is when I really think teachers have a front row seat for America’s decline. G.K. Chesterton observed, “Every high civilization decays by forgetting obvious things.” Our young people must be reminded of the “obvious things” about our country’s history, its extraordinary achievements, its still bountiful promise and potential. More than that, they must come to know the boundless possibilities of a good life, a full life, a life of service to our country, our families, and our highest ideals.
We must show them these possibilities through love—a love that believes that every young person has a worthy future. We must educate them through instruction—instruction that helps them understand their privileged place, no matter how unprivileged they might feel, in the great pageant of human history, thought, and learning. We must enlighten them through compassion—a compassion that acknowledges that every person is a unique individual with a singular calling and inestimable value.
If recent history is the cautionary tale of our culture’s being hollowed out and denied meaning, then let the next chapter be the triumphant story of a filling in with all the hopes and aspirations that will restore our country and ourselves.
As a teacher that is my deepest hope. It will take all of us to make it happen.
Jeremy S. Adams is the author of the recently-released Amazon best-selling book Hollowed Out: A Warning About America&#8217;s Next Generation. He has taught American civics for 24 years in Bakersfield, California and was the 2014 California Teacher of the Year (DAR). You can follow him on Twitter @JeremyAdams6
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Book Excerpt 2- Hollowed Out

Students Are Now Hostages Of Fatalistic Cynicism: I Know Because They Tell Me

American History

Books

Founding Fathers

Readers Pass

On the cusp of Black History Month, in a school where I was principal of a 100% African American student body (95% of which were from low-income families), the presumptive valedictorian and salutatorian came storming into my office: “Principal Max, there has to be more to our history than slavery and oppression.” What ensued was a long dialogue on their longing to be taught of the greatness of their history, and their fatigue with the overemphasis on oppression and injustices.
Pondering our curriculum, including our past African American History programs, I realized we had fallen short in telling the full and inspiring story of African American exceptionalism. I thought about how this may have prompted or perpetuated our students to assume negative stereotypes about themselves and how it may have harmed their academic efforts.
I fear that school districts like <a href="https://adflegal.org/blog/one-school-board-fighting-racism-more-racism?utm_source=dailywire&amp;utm_medium=oped">Albemarle County in Virginia</a> are doing the same by introducing unconstitutional practices into the classroom, infused with Critical Race Theory (CRT).
The true central theme of the African American experience is hope. Hope was the resounding cry of many a spiritual song and is the plea of the oft sung-civil rights anthem “We Shall Overcome.” It also communicated the backbone of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s dream that drove the civil rights movement forward in the face of violent resistance.
From slavery to Jim Crow, hope has been the engine of the black community. Hope is a mighty force. And it is hope that has empowered African Americans to overcome hurdles and achieve greater success—in the face of monumental adversity—more than any population in the history of mankind.
Albemarle County Public Schools, however, through its so-called “Anti-Racism” curriculum, has attempted to replace hope with “victimhood” as the central narrative of black history. Its curriculum forces students to view one’s status solely based on their race. Whites are characterized as “privileged” and blacks as “oppressed.”
One video told students that only white families could live in big houses. A Latina student was confused and disheartened by the video. Her parents, along with four other families, have filed a <a href="https://adflegal.org/case/ci-v-albemarle-county-school-board?utm_source=dailywire&amp;utm_medium=oped">legal challenge</a> against the school district.
Racial injustice in this country is ongoing, but replacing black success with black despair is not the answer. White students need to see the rich history of black accomplishments, and black students need to see and celebrate their rich and successful heritage. Students must learn that black entrepreneurs and white businesses funded the abolitionist and civil rights movements. The undeniable result was black success.
The importance of hope is more than just rhetorical. Solid academic research shows that a student’s success in life is highly correlated with their belief in their own ability to improve their standing. <a href="https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/pdf/10.1086/696968">Study</a> after <a href="http://bionj.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Economics-of-Hope.pdf">study</a> in development economics show that, while external factors like access to capital and having basic human needs met are important in rising out of poverty, such resources are almost meaningless if the recipients don’t believe in their own ability and agency to use those tools to improve their lives.
A <a href="https://media4.manhattan-institute.org/sites/default/files/social-construction-racism-united-states-EK.pdf">recent study</a> by Prof. Eric Kaufmann from the University of London showed that students who read a CRT-affirming passage from Ta-Nehisi Coates, a New York Times best-selling author and CRT advocate, experienced a 30% drop in their self-assessed belief in their ability to make positive changes in their life compared to students who read a more empowering passage and even those who read no passage at all.
Finally, a <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0095798419868874">recent article</a> in the Journal of Black Psychology noted the importance of hope in countering the very real impacts of racial discrimination: “Higher levels of hope have been related to positive outcomes, including fewer depressive symptoms and less anxiety in general samples. Conversely, higher levels of hopelessness among African American emerging adults have been linked to greater suicidal ideation and depressive symptomatology, even more so than white individuals who have reported higher rates of hopelessness. Hope, therefore, may have a significant impact on mental health outcomes for African American emerging adults.”
If Albemarle County Public Schools wants to reduce inequities, counter the psychological harms associated with discrimination, and raise the success of their black students, they should heed the cry of my former students. Indeed, Albemarle County schools should be reminded that hope was the answer in even darker times and remains the answer today. Schools should focus on African American exceptionalism and success to strengthen the hope and agency of all of our students and abandon their current policy that emphasizes victimhood and disseminates such despair.
Derrick Max was principal of an urban private voucher school in Washington, D.C. He is now senior research fellow at <a href="http://www.adflegal.org/?utm_source=dailywire&amp;utm_medium=oped">Alliance Defending Freedom</a> (<a href="https://twitter.com/ADFLegal">@ADFLegal</a>), which represents parents and their children in their lawsuit against the Albemarle County School Board.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

v3 Max – Hope Drives African American Exceptionalism

Hope Drives African American Exceptionalism

School Boards

As <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/the-matt-walsh-show">Matt Walsh</a> continues his quest to discover <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/videos/what-is-a-woman">the meaning</a> of the word &#8216;woman,&#8217; it appears the editors of the <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/">Merriam-Webster</a> dictionary have made it a little more difficult for him to find a clear answer.
The dictionary recently <a href="https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1549382790952656899">expanded the definition</a> of the word ‘female’ to accommodate transgender activists. Just another example of the left’s drive to alter reality by rewriting the English language.
According to a Daily Wire analysis, Merriam-Webster is modifying words and phrases at a fast clip to align with far-left sensibilities. The computer analysis compared the current dictionary with one from January 2020 – just predating the COVID pandemic and the rush of protests driven by Black Lives Matter.
Here’s a sample of some newly added abbreviations, words, and redefinitions from the middle section of the alphabet &#8211; including changing the definition of the word “girl,” adding the term “folx,” and making democratic socialism more positive.
democratic socialism was made more positive with examples like &#8220;Might it be better to chuck conservatism and liberalism altogether in favor of something like democratic socialism?&#8221; and &#8220;Democratic socialism is growing in popularity among millennials.&#8220;
decolonize went from &#8220;to free from colonial status&#8221; to a Critical Race Theory-infused essay, like, &#8220;To free from the dominating influence of a colonizing power especially: to identify, challenge, and revise or replace assumptions, ideas, values, and practices that reflect a colonizer&#8217;s dominating influence and especially a Eurocentric dominating influence.&#8221; Examples include, &#8220;A decolonized curriculum would bring questions of class, caste, race, gender, ability and sexuality into dialogue with each other, instead of pretending that there is some kind of generic identity we all share.&#8221;
drag went from &#8220;entertainment in which performers dressed as members of the opposite sex caricature gender stereotypes through the use of often outrageous costumes&#8221; to a discussion including a quote from RuPaul and one about &#8220;a conversation within the LGBTQ community regarding trans, female, and nonbinary drag performers.&#8221;
drag king went from people &#8220;lampooning&#8221; to series of examples including &#8220;blind, non-binary drag king Totio Bone showcases their signature skills of song, dance, and audio description.&#8221;
eugenics, which was widely practiced by <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-liberals-who-loved-eugenics/2017/03/08/0cc5e9a0-0362-11e7-b9fa-ed727b644a0b_story.html">liberals</a> in the early 1900s, was edited to remove a quote from conservative Dinesh D&#8217;Souza critical of &#8220;techno-utopian&#8221; Silicon Valley types who may use technology to give wealthy people the ability to improve their children&#8217;s genes.
family man morphed from a &#8220;man with a wife and children&#8221; to &#8220;a man with a spouse and child.&#8221;
Added fat-shame, as in “The author, a doctoral student therapist, discusses her experience with a clinical supervisor who fat-shamed a client during supervision. — Melissa A. Meulman.&#8221; 
Added folx, “used especially to explicitly signal the inclusion of groups commonly marginalized. Having women teach other women matters. Women of color. Transgender women. Disabled women. Gender-nonconforming folx. It matters because in a sea of educators who look alike, students who stand out can find themselves adrift.&#8220;
female was <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/female">expanded</a> to include: “having a gender identity that is the opposite of male”
gay can now also mean &#8220;of, relating to, or intended for people who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, etc.&#8221;
Added gen​der-flu​id: “of, relating to, or being a person whose gender identity is not fixed. Gender-fluid individuals prefer to remain flexible about their gender(s). Some dress in ways that reflect both genders at the same time, while others may express one gender one day and another gender another day.”
gentrification became more negative, adding: &#8220;The construction of luxury housing and gentrification of neighborhoods is pushing families out of communities they have called home for years.&#8221;
girl added &#8220;a person whose gender identity is female,&#8221; illustrated with the quote &#8220;Narrator Taylor Meskimen draws listeners into the emotional life of Zenobia July, a tech-savvy trans girl who&#8217;s facing a new year at a new middle school.&#8221;
gypsy went from &#8220;sometimes offensive&#8221; to &#8220;usually offensive.&#8221;
Added head​scarf: “a fabric covering for the head worn especially by women,” … young, well-educated European Muslim women who wear the headscarf as a conscious, articulate choice …
homosexual is &#8220;now sometimes disparaging + offensive.&#8221;
identify went from 56 words to 340 to accommodate the likes of a new sample sentence that said &#8220;Of the high school students who participated, 77% identified as female, 20% identified as male, 2% identified as nonbinary.&#8220;
implicit was changed to include references to racism and &#8220;implicit bias.&#8221;
immunocompromised now includes the example quote, &#8220;Fear of vaccines doesn&#8217;t just potentially harm the children whose parents forgo vaccination but also other kids, as well as immunocompromised adults.&#8221;
lockdown was changed to say that in addition to being imposed in prisons, it may also refer to &#8220;a temporary condition imposed by governmental authorities (as during the outbreak of an epidemic disease) in which people are required to stay in their homes and refrain from or limit activities.&#8221;
junkie, used as a reference to a drug addict, is now &#8220;disparaging + offensive.&#8221;
lily-white can now mean &#8220;lacking racial diversity,&#8221; as in &#8220;Most disappointingly, the main cast remains lily-white&#8221; and &#8220;Unless the Saints hire a black coach&#8230;, the NFL will continue its lily-white string of hires.&#8221;
maiden name is now not simply &#8220;the surname of a woman before she marries&#8221; but – in a notable example of the dictionary being grammatically incorrect &#8212; &#8220;the surname prior to marriage of a person who takes their spouse&#8217;s last name.&#8221;
male went from &#8220;a man or a boy&#8221; to &#8220;having a gender identity that is the opposite of female.&#8221;
mask is now not only &#8220;a grotesque false face worn at carnivals or in rituals&#8221; or a device &#8220;to prevent the dispersal of exhaled infectious material&#8221; but can also simply be a &#8220;covering (as of polypropylene fiber or cotton fabric) to prevent inhalation of dangerous substances or to prevent the inhalation or dispersal of exhaled infectious material (such as bacteria or viruses).&#8221;
mental retardation is &#8220;now often offensive.&#8221;
Examples of meritocracy were changed to more negative ones, replacing &#8220;many private schools have sold their birthright by choosing&#8230; &#8216;diversity&#8217; over scholarly meritocracy&#8221; with &#8220;Merit, it turns out, is at least partly class-based.&#8221;
This is the second of three parts. For more, see Part 1 &#8211; <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/newspeak-how-merriam-webster-is-redefining-words-to-fit-a-leftist-agenda">Newspeak: How Merrian-Webster Is Redefining Words To Fit A Leftist Agenda</a>

Readers-Pass—Rosiak—Merriam-Webster-Dictionary-II

Newspeak: How Merriam-Webster Is Redefining Words To Fit A Leftist Agenda – Part 2

Cancel Culture

Leftists

Propaganda

A <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/california">California</a> school district shelled out $20,000 for “Woke Kindergarten” education consulting in an elementary school.
Parent activist group Parents Defending Education first found out about the contract between Hayward Unified School District and the group, which is being paid for teacher training that will last a month and cover “anti-racist” and anti-bias instruction at Glassbrook Elementary School, the Washington Examiner exclusively <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/restoring-america/community-family/ca-school-district-paid-20k-for-woke-kindergarten-consultant">reported</a> last week. Erika Sanzi, the parent group’s director of outreach, called the organization &#8220;ideological indoctrination&#8221; that has &#8220;no place in a kindergarten classroom or any classroom.”
The contract abstract for the district says employees and teachers will &#8220;learn how to use Woke Kindergarten&#8217;s resources and pedagogical approaches in practice as a way to disrupt whiteness, white dominant/settler colonial narratives and anti-Blackness in the Glassbrook community.&#8221;
The group’s website <a href="https://www.wokekindergarten.org/">explains</a> that it is “supporting children, families, educators and organizations in their commitment to abolitionist early education and pro-black and queer and trans liberation.”
Fox News <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/california-school-district-paying-20k-woke-kindergarten-consulting">reported</a> the contractor agreement said Woke Kindergarten was brought in for &#8220;thematic unit planning and coaching,&#8221; while the financial impact statement said the training’s purpose was to &#8220;continue … anti-racist, anti-bias training and connect to building thematic units along with coaching.”
The extent of the contract also involves utilizing Woke Kindergarten’s materials to &#8220;disrupt whiteness, white dominant/settler colonial narratives and anti-Blackness in the Glassbrook [Elementary School] community.”
The proposal also noted that the group collaborated with Glassbrook Elementary for the 2021-2022 school year &#8220;to facilitate four workshops and support staff in creating and implementing healing-centered, early childhood &amp; elementary tools and frameworks to support teachers in supporting children’s holistic needs in the classroom.&#8221;
Michael Bazeley, Director of Public Information and Governmental Relations at Hayward Unified School District, told The Daily Wire over email, “[a]t this time, we have no comment on that topic,” regarding Woke Kindergarten.
The news comes after some California schools have refused to divulge information on how they spent COVID funding.
Nonprofit outlet CalMatters <a href="https://calmatters.org/education/2022/06/california-schools-stimulus-funds-oversight/">reached</a> out to several school districts earlier this year to find out how their COVID money was spent, but some have not discussed the details. The outlet sent public records requests to over 30 public school districts in the state.
Through federal or state initiatives over the past two years, $33.5 billion one-time <a href="https://www.cde.ca.gov/fg/cr/relieffunds.asp">funding</a> went to California’s K-12 schools to help them deal with the effects of COVID. Over the course of three months, CalMatters looked into the spending at specific school districts, only to be ignored or told they couldn’t provide information by certain districts.
Oakland Unified and San Francisco Unified (SFUSD) both refused to give the outlet their transaction data, and Stockton Unified, Elk Grove Unified, Klamath-Trinity Joint Unified, and Los Angeles Unified (LAUSD) hadn&#8217;t given the outlet any information either. LAUSD had recognized the request from March, but had not provided data the week CalMatters published its report.
“Unfortunately, The District is unable to locate any document responsive to your request,” Geri Baskind, a district legal assistant for Oakland, wrote to the outlet regarding CalMatters’ March records request.
A letter from SFUSD reportedly said, “The District does not use an accounting system that would allow us to extract the transactional level information requested.&#8221;
While some district authorities say there are lots of difficult reporting guidelines, education proponents and some parents have said the details around who is being paid and what is being bought is many times unknown.
The Daily Wire has reached out to LAUSD, OUSD’s student services, SFUSD, Stockton Unified, Klamath-Trinity Joint Unified, and Elk Grove Unified.
SFUSD provided a press <a href="https://www.sfusd.edu/about-sfusd/sfusd-news/current-news-sfusd/sf-board-education-adopts-plan-and-budget-2022-23-school-year">release</a> to The Daily Wire about the 2022-2023 budget, as well as an interactive budget <a href="https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/sfusd.budget/viz/SFUSDBudget2021-22/2021-22BudgetDashboard">dashboard</a>. An item on the dashboard noted that $60,000 was budgeted for &#8220;Cdc-Schl Based Surveilln&#8221; in 2020-21, and $59,620 was in 2021-22, both from a general fund.
LAUSD provided The Daily Wire with a <a href="http://laschoolboard.org/sites/default/files/COW%20Budget%20Workshop%205-17-22_0.pdf">presentation</a> from a May Committee of the Whole budget workshop, pointing to a slide that &#8220;shows the various timelines of COVID funds.&#8221;

F7760D9A-8C39-4A77-864E-785BD8CF6BC2_1_105_c

California School District Pays ‘Woke Kindergarten’ Group $20K For Consulting

California Hayward Unified School District Pays ‘Woke Kindergarten’ Group For Consulting On ‘Anti-Racist’ Instruction

California

COVID

As the Biden administration <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/treasury-sec-yellen-us-economy-isnt-necessarily-headed-for-a-recession-might-not-meet-the-technical-definition">redefines the word “recession”</a> to avoid being in one, it appears the editors of the <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/">Merriam-Webster</a> dictionary have also engaged in a rewrite of the English language. According to a Daily Wire analysis, Merriam-Webster is modifying words and phrases to comport with far-left sensibilities.
The computer analysis compared the current dictionary with one from January 2020 – just predating the COVID pandemic and the rush of protests driven by Black Lives Matter. Here’s a sample of newly added abbreviations, words, and redefinitions from the first handful of letters in the alphabet:
Added: AAL, African American Language or African ​American ​English: “a variety of American English spoken chiefly by African Americans. Like all other dialects of English, with their own histories of how they came to be, African American English (AAE) is a systematic and complete language that operates under a set of rules.&#8221;
Added: AAPI, “Asian American and Pacific Islander.
Added: AFAB, “assigned female at birth,” as in “not everyone who is assigned female at birth (AFAB) identifies as a girl.” Also AMAB.
Added: anti-vaccination, with negative examples. anti-vaxxer was lengthened with more negative examples. &#8220;But state health officials and vaccine proponents have argued that unvaccinated children pose a health risk to others.&#8221; 
binary was changed to add this example usage: &#8220;Sam Kilermann, a self-described &#8216;social justice comedian,&#8217; is very serious about how far the complexities of identity go beyond the traditional binary of male or female.&#8221;
Added BIPOC: “Black, Indigenous, (and) People of Color…  People are using the term to acknowledge that not all people of color face equal levels of injustice. They say BIPOC is significant in recognizing that Black and Indigenous people are severely impacted by systemic racial injustices.&#8220;
bible: All references to figures in the Bible, such as Eve, were rewritten to clarify that they were &#8220;in the Bible,&#8221; instead of assuming familiarity.
black: It is now “widely established” that the word should be capitalized when referring to race, though white generally is not.
black nationalist made a similar change, going from &#8220;advocat[ing] separatism&#8221; to &#8220;empower[ing] Black people.&#8221;
Black Panther transformed from &#8220;a member of an organization of militant American blacks&#8221; to &#8220;a member of a Black revolutionary organization that fought for racial equality and justice.&#8221;
blackness was added to refer to &#8220;the social and cultural identity and experience of black people&#8221; such as &#8220;I, on the other hand, feel it is my blackness (not my skin color so much as the culture that nurtured me) that causes me to open myself, acknowledge my soul and its varied components&#8221; and &#8220;exploring Blackness and gender identity within fine art.&#8221;
boost can now mean now only to &#8220;steal, shoplift&#8221; but also &#8220;to administer a booster shot.&#8221; It contains the sample sentence &#8220;Mr. Biden &#8230; pleaded with Americans to get vaccinated or boosted.&#8221;
boy changed from &#8220;an immature male&#8221; to &#8220;a child whose gender identity is male&#8221; and added the sample sentence &#8220;Call Me Max and other books in the series are about a young trans boy figuring out who he is.&#8221; Boy may also refer to &#8220;a male romantic partner,&#8221; it adds.
brother can now mean &#8220;a Black boy or man.&#8221;
Added cancel ​culture: “the practice or tendency of engaging in mass canceling as a way of expressing disapproval and exerting social pressure. For those of you who aren&#8217;t aware, cancel culture refers to the mass withdrawal of support from public figures or celebrities who have done things that aren&#8217;t socially accepted today.&#8220;
classism went from &#8220;prejudice or discrimination based on class&#8221; to a lengthy section involving &#8220;a belief that a person&#8217;s social or economic station in society determines their value in that society,&#8221; such as &#8220;the show explores classism and white privilege by comparing how school administrators treated him, as a rich white boy from a family with Ivy League pedigree, versus how they treat Latina and working-class Moe.&#8221; Or &#8220;the systemic oppression of the lower class and middle class to the advantage of the upper class,&#8221; such as &#8220;This is one way to dismantle the power difference society&#8217;s privileges grant us through such institutions as racism or classism.&#8221;
colonialism went from a brief definition referencing the British Empire to a borderline essay explaining that it is &#8220;Sometimes considered to encompass non-state forms of influence and domination.&#8221; colonize swelled from 53 words to 353 to accommodate new definitions and examples like &#8220;Before colonizing the artistic and intellectual work of Black people, white people should ask themselves questions such as, how can I contribute to this Black person&#8217;s wellbeing? Am I studying this work for the explicit purpose of Black liberation?&#8220;
color-blind went from the positive &#8220;not influenced by differences of race&#8221; to &#8220;often suggests a failure or refusal to acknowledge or address the many racial inequities that exist in society, or to acknowledge important aspects of racial identity.&#8221;
come out now includes &#8220;openly declare one&#8217;s sexual orientation or gender identity,&#8221; such as &#8220;came out as bisexual.&#8221;
To the phrase conversion ​therapy, a ‘note’ was added: “NOTE: Conversion therapy is generally regarded as having no scientific basis and as being both ineffective and harmful.”
cotton-picking as a replacement for &#8220;damned&#8221; is now &#8220;widely considered offensive.&#8221;
Added critical ​race ​theory: “a group of concepts (such as the idea that race…is a sociological rather than biological designation, and that racism…pervades society and is fostered and perpetuated by the legal system) used for examining the relationship between race and the laws and legal institutions of a country and especially the United States.”
dab went from &#8220;a gentle touch or stroke&#8221; to an essay on marijuana and &#8220;a dance move originating in hip-hop that is performed by bending one arm at the elbow, dropping the head so that the face is near the crook of that arm, and usually extending the other arm so that it is parallel with the forearm of the bent arm.&#8221;
Added de​car​cer​a​tion: “release from imprisonment” as in “There is much talk of defunding the police but little of decarceration—freeing from prisons people who are locked into place because they don&#8217;t have the financial wherewithal to afford the gentler and more understanding criminal justice system.&#8221;
Added demi​sex​u​al, “feeling sexual attraction towards another person only after establishing an emotional bond with that person”

Readers-Pass—Rosiak—Merriam-Webster-Dictionary-I

Newspeak: How Merriam-Webster Is Redefining Words To Fit A Leftist Agenda

language

Social Justice

Menu